Meant To B
by R.Noseworthy
Summary: Watari wants to change the way Wammy's House trains L's potential successor. But first he needs to speak with L about the rapidly-developing problem that is B... One-shot, set when L is six. No warnings. A glimpse behind-the-scenes of how Wammy's House really thinks about its charges.


A/N: Greetings Lovelies! Little thing to take note of- I've messed with L and B's ages in this story, and have them attending Wammy's at the same time. Also, please attribute any OOC-ness on L's part as me giving into the impulse to chibi him more than I should have. (I am helpless before the adorable powers of young!L...)

WARNINGS: None (for once!)

BETA:

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Death Note. If I did, then Mello would have ended up as L's heir because he worked so much harder for it and would never have taken it for granted.

* * *

Meant To B

Locating his young ward didn't take half as much time as Watari feared it might.

At this time of night, L could be counted upon to be either in the library studying, in the media room puzzling through his latest case or else in the kitchen gobbling down all the sugar he could get his hands on. Unfortunately, those rooms were all on opposite ends of the excessively large and mostly empty Wammy's House, and it was equally likely that he could be in any of the three. Fortunately, Watari happened to hear noises coming from the direction of the kitchen before he was forced to traverse the entirety of the House and investigate all three rooms.

The source of the noise was apparent as soon as Watari stepped into the doorway. L was standing in the pool of light cast by the open door of the refrigerator and muttering furiously to himself. The child was clutching a plate of scones precariously in one of his tiny hands and glaring up at a jar of jam sitting on the refrigerator's highest shelf with an exceptionally un-child-like expression of frustration upon his face. His free hand was desperately struggling to reach the prize, but it was significantly beyond even the fullest extent of his height. L was barley six years old, and no amount of stretching would enable him to grow the extra foot required to retrieve the coveted jam. Realising this, L let out a frustrated little snarl and stomped his feet on the ground indignantly. He then placed the scones carefully on the floor and dove at the fridge, attempting to climb up the shelves like a ladder.

Watari's silent amusement at the comic scene vanished the moment L's foot slipped on one of the shelves and he very nearly fell back onto the tiled floor.

"L!" he snapped. L froze in place and snapped his head around to face Watari. His expression was one of such perfect wide-eyed innocence that he must of known he had been caught doing something wrong. Watari strode forward and physically lifted the small boy out of the fridge to return him safely to solid ground. "Just what do you think you are doing?"

L glanced up at Watari with a petulant pout before letting his eyes fall down to his feet, which he shuffled guiltily on the floor. "I want jam," he mumbled sulkily, "but it's too high."

"Yes, I can see that," Watari crossed his arms over his chest. "However, I would have thought that the superior intellect which you possess would have enabled you to think of a manner of reaching the jam which wouldn't involve the possibility of you _braining yourself on the floor_." His frustration and concern over the boy's lack of heed for his personal safety manifested itself harshly in those last five words.

L flinched and continued to avoid Watari's eyes. He stood with his usual bad posture slightly accentuated and his hands twisted anxiously into the hem of his white tee-shirt. His bowed position made it appear that he was on the verge of wrapping his thin arms around himself as he accepted his mentor's scathing admonishment without reproach. It was unlike him. Usually he would deny the validity of any reprimand and attempt to argue a position which defended his actions; or else would immediately acknowledge that Watari was correct and then argue against him anyway. He was intelligent enough to admit when he was wrong without prompting, but stubborn enough to not want to be lectured about it.

Watari sighed and rubbed his eyes. It was challenging, to say the least, to be raising a child who was more intelligent than himself by far and yet still too young to fully comprehend the world around him. (Never mind function within it with an acceptable level of normality.)

"Might I suggest requesting help in the future?" he chided wearily.

L nodded and continued in a small voice; "Watari, can you please help me get the jam?"

"Of course I can L," Watari replied amicably, retrieving both scones and jam and transferring them to the kitchen counter.

L seemed overjoyed, bouncing up onto the balls of his feet and throwing his small arms around Watari's legs in a tight hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

Watari didn't react quickly enough to respond before L had released him and was scrambling up on top the counter to assume his usual crouch beside the scones. He was slightly thrown by the young boy's enthusiasm. It was a far cry from his standard attempts to maintain a consistently stoic demeanour. Watari wondered if he had become so absorbed in his work again that he'd forgotten to eat anything sugary for a few hours. Deprivation of L's sweet-tooth was the only thing guaranteed to manifest behaviours which were actually appropriate for a child of his age. The way in which L tore the scones apart with abandon and used his fingers to smother them in jam seemed to confirm this theory.

"Is there a reason you are neglecting to use cutlery?" Watari's lips tightened slightly as he watched L scoop the first few scones into his mouth, heedless of the trails of jam dribbling down his chin. "Are you perhaps taking a leaf out of B's book?"

L looked like he wanted to say something; but his mouth was too full and so the attempt ended with him nearly choking. Watari rolled his eyes with exasperation before pulling a handkerchief out of his sleeve and using it to carefully wipe away the excess of crumbs and strawberry smears from L's face and neck. L sat absolutely still with unusually docile obedience while he did it; and then immediately reached for another handful of jam-and-scone as soon as he moved away. Watari caught his wrist before he was able to coat his mouth with another layer of the sticky mess.

"Pace yourself, L," he said in exasperation (it was quickly becoming a familiar tone for dealing with the boy's more unusual behaviours.) "And please ensure you've properly chewed and swallowed your food before speaking. We don't want you choking to death when you've haven't even been alive a full decade."

L complied by making a deliberate show of slowing down his frenzied eating, even going so far as to fetch a small cake fork out of the drawer so he could delicately pick at his food in the manner he reserved for his favourite baked goods.

When he was reasonably sure that L wasn't about to clog his airway shut with gooey scones, Watari took the opportunity to finally address the reason he had been attempting to find the young protégé in the first place.

"There is something I would like to discuss with you," Watari's more sombre tone was marked by L's eyes shifting up from his food. "Roger and I have just had a rather lengthy conversation concerning yourself and B."

L cocked his head on an angle like an inquisitive puppy and surveyed Watari calmly. "What about us?"

"Given the past tragedy with A, as well as B's..." Watari hesitated, unsure how to phrase his thoughts, "... recent deviation from conventional behaviour-"

"You are referring to his recent attempts to mimic me," L interrupted, no trace of a question in his assessment.

"We've only caught him at it a few times, but both Roger and I are becoming concerned. We think it's possible that B might be showing early signs of mental instability."

"Oh, I doubt that," L said somewhat dismissively. "He merely idolizes me and has a very childish way of showing it. He'll grow out of it soon enough."

Sometimes having a conversation with a hyper-intelligent six-year-old could be truly surreal. Especially when said six-year-old was balancing a fork skilfully between two frail fingers and nibbling jam off the end between sentences while calling his heir (who was only six months younger than him) 'childish'.

"Of course that is our hope," Watari continued carefully. "But it's undeniable that the pressure of training to be your successor is affecting him negatively. The probability of this escalating beyond his capacity to cope with cannot be dismissed after what happened with A. It's leading Roger and I to believe that our current system of creating a suitable heir is ineffective."

"So you're suggesting we should just get rid of B and begin again with someone else?" L actually seemed annoyed now, and his tone had turned accusatory. "If he's unsuitable to be my heir then why was he brought here in the first place? Shouldn't you have determined this before he was introduced to me?"

"L, that is not what I'm saying at all," Watari countered soothingly, allowing nothing of the doubt he was entertaining to enter his voice. Watari had not considered that L had developed an emotional attachment to his potential heir; but any and all interest in socialisation the boy expressed needed to be encouraged, as it was an area in which he was seriously underdeveloped. Watari had always simply assumed that L disliked his eager mimic due to an expressed desire to not spend large amounts of time with the younger boy. But what if L was simply ill-equipped to handle long periods of social interaction? Watari made a mental note to keep a sharper eye on L's reactions to B when they were together. For now, it was important that he gently ingratiate L to the possibly of more appropriate avenue for engaging in social interaction with other children.

"We think that perhaps the pressure of becoming the next L is too much for a single child to bear alone," Watari continued, watching L carefully to gauge his opinion. "My other orphanages across the globe are always looking for children with exceptional potential. We've received several calls, but so far have only accepted them one at a time. Roger has proposed that we set up Wammy's House as a separate institution where all of these exceptional children could be raised together. They could train together as a group and support one another. What do you think?"

L's eyes slid over Watari's shoulder to stare into space with fixed blankness, as he tended to do when he was mulling over a new idea. "It's certainly an interesting concept, Watari... I'll give you that." It was clear that the wheels in his mind were spinning away now. "Have you put any thought into how you would determine which of these children would eventually succeed me?"

"Well, Roger and I thought that we would construct a series of regular assessments and tests to give the children a ranking. However, you would always have the final decision."

L seemed pleased with that. His mouth curled into the small smile which he assumed on occasion, before something flickered in his eyes and he began grinning in earnest. "Yesyesyes. A school full of the world's best and brightest, all constantly battling one another for the same prize... it wouldn't be long before they went for each other's throats! And then, we could make them FIGHT TO THE DEATH FOR MY ENTERTAINMENT!" L's voice rose into an excited shriek and he began clapping his hands and laughing to the beat. "Ha-HA, ha-HA, ha-HA, ha-HA!" Before long, he was hysterical, falling out of his crouch and rolling across the counter on his back, legs kicking out as his body was wracked with wild laughter.

Watari was appalled. He started back, gaping at L for a few dumbstruck seconds before what should have been apparent from the start finally clicked into place in his brain.

"B! How dare you impersonate L like this!"

B's hysterics only intensified as Watari realised who he had been talking to this whole time. "Finally caught on, have we?" he cackled gleefully. His real voice was much lower than the lilt he adopted when impersonating L. The change made the child sound infinitely more callous than should have been possible for someone so young. "Poor Watari, you must be getting slow in your old age!" he cried out mockingly.

That he was becoming slightly slower was possible, but Watari was no less strong now then he had been ten years before. Furious, both with himself and with B, he picked the boy up for the second time that night and set him on his feet. However, this time he did so with no concern for the child's wellbeing, instead digging a clawed hand firmly into B's shoulder as he marched him forcibly from the room.

"Your behaviour is completely unacceptable B. Roger and I will not tolerate it," Watari threatened. "You are going to your room this instant, and you will stay there until morning." B opened his mouth to protest, but Watari cut him off. "I do not care in the slightest whether you really are an insomniac or not. You are going to stay put and give L a break from your pestering."

"I'm not pestering him!" B argued hotly. "I'm helping him with his cases! Lawli loves it when I help him, he does!"

"I don't care," Watari said shortly. And at the moment he truly was too angry to care about anything B said or did, regardless of how L may or may not feel about it.

"You're just jealous," B muttered sulkily, "because I'm the only one around here who's on Lawli's level. That's the real reason you wanna flood this place with other kids, isn't it? You're just trying to drive us apart!"

"That's ridiculous," Watari's voice was cold and clipped, letting nothing of his true emotions through anymore. B could speculate all he liked, but it wouldn't do anyone any good if he had his suspicions confirmed.

They arrived at the boy's room in record time. Watari gave B an unceremonious shove through the doorway, but the child spun on his heel for one last angry confrontation.

"You're wrong!" he spat. "Both of you! All of you! You don't understand me and Lawli at all! The two of us are meant to be together and you there's nothing you can do to stop it!"

It was beyond terrifying for Watari to see the child like this. Eyes wild and crazed, make-up smudged, bottom-lip trembling and young hands clenched into tiny fists. What could have been his beloved L's face glared up at him with burning fury and cold hatred.

"B," said Watari calmly. "If you continue to breach security by impersonating L and refusing to use his proper alias, then I'll see to it that you don't eat any jam for as long as it takes you to learn how to behave-"

"Go ahead," B's lips curled into a sneer and his eyes flashed with the challenge. "See if it makes any difference."

"-and I'll have you barred from L's presence entirely."

That did it. B looked completely shocked for the last second that Watari saw him before he closed the door smartly in his face and locked it. He paused a second, and sure enough, there was a muted howl from the other side of the door before the resounding thump of a small body throwing itself against the hardwood was heard.

B was relentless in his tantrum, beating at the door with his feet and fists for a long, long time before Watari finally heard him give up and slide down the door to slump against the floor. He stayed for a while longer; wanting to make sure that B given up voluntarily and not merely knocked himself out. When he began to hear the unmistakable sound of quiet, muffled sobs, he abandoned the boy to private misery and left to once again search for L in the sprawling complex of Wammy's House.

* * *

DISCLAIMER (again): I did not come up with the "fight to the death for my entertainment" line. Full credit for that goes to my friend, G-Nome, who originally inspired this story. (Although some of it was her B...)


End file.
